A Bite of China II, Too Many Persional Stories

Two years ago state-run broadcaster CCTV surprised viewers with its beautifully produced food documentary A Bite of China, showcasing the country’s culinary heritage. The eagerly awaited second season, A Bite of China II, started in mid-April, with a young Tibetan travelling deep into the mountains to find the ingredients for a dessert that blends honey and shortening. Without a safety harness, the man spends three hours climbing a huge tree to collect the honeycomb he needs to make the delicacy, which he intends as a gift for his brother (who is set to depart for college).

“Honey is the most valuable gift Bai Ma can bring his family,” the narrator says, adding that it is difficult to obtain anything sweet in the impoverished area.
Next, the series travels to Zhejiang province, where it profiles a fisherman who spends two years mastering a technique to catch mudskippers, an unusual fish that his daughter has long wanted to try.

The audience response to the second season has been a little less glowing than the first series. Many say the show’s producers should have focused more on the food. “Too much time is spent on the personal stories, diluting the true meaning of the documentary,” one netizen wrote.

Chengdu Business Daily concurs: “The first season of A Bite of China was so popular because it spoke about Chinese cuisine but wasn’t only about food. The documentary was interspersed with personal stories. However, the second season takes that one step too far.”

Still, more sentimental viewers said they were touched by the narratives featured in the show: “What the Tibetan boy did for his brother, and what the father did for his daughter, that is so moving!” one wrote.

More eagle-eyed netizens wondered if CCTV had been taking lessons from the award-winning BBC documentary Human Planet. A number of viewers pointed out that some of the sequences and camera angles were almost exactly the same as the UK documentary. But Chen Xiaoqing, who directed the episode under scrutiny, denied any plagiarism, saying any “similarity” was intended as homage to the BBC show.

Netizens weren’t convinced: “If you compare the two scenes with screen shots, you will find them exactly the same except for the characters,” one wrote. “If that is not copying, then we can call academic plagiarism ‘paying homage’ to scholars.”

Despite the mild criticism of the format, the food featured on the show quickly sold out online. CCTV reckons that supplies of Sichuan bacon and Beijing roast duck – dishes mentioned in the first episode – soon sold out on Tmall.com afterwards.

Restaurants featured on the show were also mobbed. Shanghai’s Sanlin Benbang, which appeared in the second episode, told the Shanghai Daily that its phone has been ringing off the hook. The family-run joint, which serves traditional Shanghainese cuisine, says diners have been queueing up for a seat at one of its 12 tables. The Li family, which owns the restaurant, says they are already considering expansion to accommodate all the new customers: “There’s an abandoned warehouse behind the restaurant…I will talk to township officials to see whether I can rent it,” says Li Mingfu, the eatery’s boss.

One of Sanlin Benbang’s most popular dishes is Shanghai-style fried river shrimp. River shrimps are tiny – so small that they are consumed with their shells intact. The shrimps are usually dipped in hot oil until their shell turns red. Then they are returned to the wok and coated in a light gravy composed of soy sauce, cooking wine and sugar.

Sanlin Benbang Restaurant is located on 65 Zhong Lin Street, Pudong, Shanghai. (Tel: +8621 5077-1717)

Please go to Week in China learn more.

Chinese Spaghetti

Yi Mian is a type of egg noodle that originates from Guangdong province. Shaped like spaghetti, it is made from eggs and flour. But the egg noodle is first cooked in boiling water and deep fried twice (not unlike instant noodles). The delicacy, definitely not for those who are counting their calories, is perfect with dishes that feature thick gravy or sauce.

Why is it famous?
Legend has it that the dish was created accidentally when the chef of the Qing Dynasty calligrapher Yi Bingshou (1754-1815) mistakenly put egg noodles that had already been cooked into a wok filled with boiling oil. The chef improvised and decided to serve the noodles together with a stock. Unexpectedly, the dinner guests loved the dish and sang its praises.

Where is the best place to eat it?
One of the most popular variations of the noodle meal is one that’s cooked with lobster. In Hong Kong, many restaurants serve Yi Mian with braised lobster too, sometimes topped with grilled cheese.

For a unique dining experience try Loaf On Seafood in Sai Kung, Hong Kong. The restaurant, which was awarded one Michelin star in 2012, is famous for its fresh seafood.

Loaf On Seafood, 49 Market Street, Sai Kung, Hong Kong (Tel: +852 2792 9966).

Learn more, please go to Week in China. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tucked in Kungpao Chicken

Many people will be familiar with kungpao chicken(宫保鸡丁), a staple offering in Chinatown restaurants around the world. The dish is made with chicken breast (cut into cubes), crunchy peanuts and dried chili peppers. Then it is cooked in sweet bean paste, soy sauce and sugar.

Why is it famous?
Ding Baozhen, a native of Guizhou, was a government official in the Qing dynasty. After he was promoted to the rank of Gongbao (a prestigious title) Ding visited the family of a man in Sichuan who had saved his life when he was young. While he was there Ding was served a dish featuring diced chicken, peanuts and Sichuan peppercorns. He enjoyed it so much that he began eating it on a regular basis and serving it to his guests. It came to be known as Gongbao Jiding in honour of the official (jiding loses a bit of glamour in translation, meaning ‘chicken bits’).

The kungpao spelling derives from the nineteenth century Wade-Giles system for romanising Mandarin (Gongbao is the modern pinyin equivalent, although most eateries in the US and UK have stuck with kungpao as their customers are familiar with it).

More recently, the dish made headline news when German Chancellor Angela Merkel – in China on a state visit – watched a local chef prepare it in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. Then she tucked in. “We thought she would just have a mouthful but she finished about two-thirds of it,” the restaurant owner announced proudly. “She asked us to bring more chopsticks so that other members of her entourage could also taste it.”

Where can you find kungpao chicken?
Sample it in Chengdu if you want an authentic experience like Merkel’s. Chen Mapo is a very popular restaurant in the city. The address is 197 West Yulong Street (near Bank of Communications) in Qingyang District, Chengdu. Tel: +86 (28) 8675-4512.

Read more,please go to Week in China.

Super Shrimp Ball Soup

I think it was two weeks ago when I prepared for the dinner. I had no idea what type of soup I should make. I checked the refrigerator and found plenty of shrimp in there. So I got an idea-how about shrimp ball soup?
You may try at home too, it's absolutely delicious! And really simple to make!

Hands-on Time: 10mins | Total 25mins | Serves 2-3

15 peeled and deveined large shrimp,grounded
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon cooking wine
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 pieces cilantro,roughly chopped
1 egg white

black pepper
sesame oil
2 cups of water

1. In a medium bowl, mix shrimp, ginger, cooking wine, salt, cilantro and egg white together
2. Heat a pot of water,wait for water to boil
3. Add shrimp balls one by one quickly
4. When the water boils again, add a little bit fresh grounded black pepper, sesame oil, and salt(to taste)

Now, you can enjoy the delicious soup!

 

A Bite of China- Amazing Journey on Chinese Delicious!

A Bite of China (舌尖上的中国) is a 2012 Chinese documentary television series on the history of food, eating, and cooking in China.It first appeared at the China Central Television in May 14th, 2012, and quickly gained much popularity. Having started filming in March 2011, this seven-episode documentary series introduces the history and story behind foods of various kinds in more than 60 locations all around China. The documentary has also been actively encouraged as a means of introducing Chinese food culture to those unfamiliar with local cuisine. It's an amazing journey on Chinese food culture and history. It has seven episodes, I hope you enjoy them like me.

1. Nature’s Gift
2. The Story of Staple Foods
3. The Inspiration of Transformation
4. The Taste of Time - This episode focuses on the different preservation techniques and preserved food across the regions
5. Secrets of the Kitchen
6. Balancing the Five Tastes
7. Our Rural Heritage

The Seventh Daughter: A Culinary Journey

A pioneer in the food world, Cecilia Chiang (江孙芸)introduced Americans to authentic northern Chinese cuisine at her San Francisco restaurant, the Mandarin, in 1961, earning the adoration of generations of diners, including local luminaries such as Marion Cunningham, Ruth Reichl, and Chuck Williams.

In The Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco, Chiang presents a classic collection of recipes framed by her gripping life's story. Beginning with her account of a privileged childhood in 1920s and 1930s Beijing, Chiang chronicles a 1,000-mile trek on foot in the wake of the Japanese occupation, her arrival in San Francisco, and her transformation from accidental restaurateur to culinary pioneer. The book's recipes feature cherished childhood dishes and definitive Mandarin classics, while showcasing Cecilia's purist approach to authentic Chinese home cooking.

Cecilia Chiang, the San Francisco-based chef who made refined, regional Chinese food part of America's restaurant scene, is to receive the 2013 James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. Chiang, 93, is to Chinese cuisine what Julia Child was to French food.

Born and raised in China, Chiang never planned to become a restaurateur. But during a visit to San Francisco, she happened to get stuck with a restaurant lease that some friends had reneged on.

Chiang decided to plunge into the business and offer "real Chinese food" rather than the chop-suey and egg-foo-yung fare typical of Chinese eateries then. In 1961, she opened the Mandarin, an upscale restaurant serving cuisine from Shanghai, Sichuan and Beijing, all places where she'd lived. James Beard, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Wolfgang Puck were among the regulars. Food luminaries like Beard, Julia Child, Alice Waters and Marion Cunningham took cooking classes that Chiang taught.

Chiang sold the Mandarin in 1991, and it closed in 2006. Her son, Philip, is a co-founder of the restaurant chain P.F. Chang's. 

The Hakka Cookbook

"I NEVER KNEW I was eating Hakka food (客家菜) when I was growing up," says Linda Anusasananan, a food writer and former Sunset senior editor. "I just knew it tasted really good." In the new Hakka Cookbook (University of California Press; $40), Anusasananan shares recipes from her grandmother's kitchen and beyond.

Part cookbook, part memoir, the book celebrates the little-known cuisine of the Hakka people, who, after fleeing central China in the fourth century, traveled to southern China, many eventually migrating to places around the world including Peru, Australia, and California. That nomadic lifestyle added layers of diversity to the cuisine's rich broths, salty preserved vegetables, and robust Cantonese flavors. Some think of it as peasant food, but Anusasananan calls it Chinese soul food.

If you want to learn more about this California-influenced, Hakka-style noddle buffet, adapted from her book, please read February issue of Sunset magazine. And please go to author's The Hakka Cookbook blog to learn more Chinese recipes.